The introduction of the Pokemon Black and White games brought an entirely new dynamic to the competitive Pokemon scene. As everyone knows, the Unova region brought many big threats to the table, including Terrakion, Genesect, Hydreigon, and Volcarona. Most assumed that these Pokemon would dominate the OU tier for years to come. However, when you takes a look at Smogon's most recent usage statistics, there's only a single BW-exclusive Pokemon that made the top 10 cut. Only 3 break the top 20. This leads me to believe that Black and White Pokemon aren't all they've cracked up to be. I decided to build a team using no Unova Pokemon, only 'mons from generations 1 through 4, and it performed exceptionally well despite lacking any 5th gen Pokemon. I'm curious to see if others find the same result. And thus, without further ado, let me introduce to you the Who Needs Unova? OU Ladder Challenge!

Rules

• Objective: To attain an ACRE of 1950 or above, as well as a standard deviation of plus/minus 70, on the Pokemon Showdown! OverUsed ladder (NOT the suspect ladder).

• Alternate formes of 5th generation Pokemon are also banned. This includes Darmanitan-Zen, Tornadus-Therian, Thundurus-Therian, Landorus-Therian, and Meloetta-Pirouette.

• The automatic ladder restrictions are that of Smogon and Pokemon Showdown. This means that, in addition to the already listed Pokemon, Arceus, Blaziken, Darkrai, Deoxys, Deoxys-A, Deoxys-S, Dialga, Garchomp, Giratina, Giratina-O, Groudon, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Kyurem-B, Kyurem-W, Lugia, Manaphy, Mewtwo, Palkia, Rayquaza, Shaymin-S, and Thundurus are all banned. Note that Deoxys-D and Shaymin are NOT banned. In addition, such clauses as Evasion Clause, OHKO Clause, and Moody Clause will be in effect for the duration of this challenge.

• Use a new alt, please. This is very important. We need to know what you achieved just with the team you've constructed based on the limitations of this challenge, not your previous ladder ranking.

• When laddering on your alt, always use the team designated for this challenge. Do not break any of the rules of this challenge while under that ladder alt. We have no way of enforcing this, so it's all down to you being honest, really. But what's the point of this challenge if you cheat on it?

• If and when you achieve your ACRE/deviation, please screenshot your ladder peak and post it in this thread, along with the rank you achieved, the team(s) you used, and your comments on this challenge. Please do aspiring challengers a big favor by answering the questions listed below, we appreciate it!

• What did you think was the biggest challenge when not being allowed to use any of the restricted Pokemon? Was it overcomeable?

• How did you feel the challenge tested your metagame skill? Did it make playing much harder, or were you still able to leaderboard with relative ease.

• What is your opinion on how overpowered the Pokemon that you were not allowed to use, but were required to face? Were they too strong to deal with, are there metagame shifts you would consider to correct this? Please don't derail the thread with a constant debate over this point, only reply once you've won!

• What team style did you use, and how did it fare against the metagame? Were there team styles you couldn't beat? (As an aside, please share your team with an importable! It'll be fun to disect those, and you may even be featured in a Smog article!)

• What is your personal opinion on this challenge?

Finally, feel free to share your experiences and such in this thread, it's meant for discussion purposes too! I wish you all the best of luck.

Finally. Something exciting in this god-forsaken wasteland (okay, that's not really the case, but damn. People and Sand Veil and their Taylor teams and their god-forsaken Focus Sash Terrakions and all that. Seriously).